


Being Human

by JordanDancerBoy



Series: The Untold Tales of Kol Mikaelson and Damon Salvatore [3]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Discovering Power, Fire, Immortals, Learning Magic, M/M, Magic, Silas' Island, The Cure, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-19 01:04:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13693650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JordanDancerBoy/pseuds/JordanDancerBoy
Summary: Damon Salvatore and Kol Mikaelson are forced to deal with recent events from the Island, and must come together and stop Silas, the world's first Immortal Being, who is hell bent on seeing his plan through. Damon struggles with his lover's new fragility and the splintering of the life he'd known in Mystic Falls, while Kol adapts to life as a mortal after a millennia of life as an Original and the enemies that brings.All Rights belong to Julie Plec and the Vampire Diaries/Originals copyright.





	1. Awakening

The cavern was still silent except for the hammering of Kol’s heart. Damon could sense the Cure pulsing through him, and was torn – unable to leave his lover, but unable to help him. Damon watched the former-vampire lying motionless except the gentle rise and fall of his chest. How could he have let this happen? 

Kol’s body began to toss from side to side and Damon rushed instinctively to his side. Kol’s eyes opened slightly as he tried to adjust to the cavern around him. His eyes landed upon Damon who had wrapped one arm protectively around him and gripped Kol’s hand with his other. 

“Damon? What’s going on?”

“Can you stand? We need to get out of here.” Damon informed him, helping him up, before Kol’s legs gave way beneath him. Damon caught him and lifted his body in to a cradle. “Grab on. I’ll try to climb up.” Kol responded in his slumbering state without question, slipping on to Damon’s back and clinging around his neck as the vampire rushed to the wall and began to dig his fists into the rock, slowly ascending the cliff face before him. 

The darkness of the cavern surrounded their climb, and the ascent was silent except for the faint echo of crumbling stone falling from Damon’s hand and the occasional moan from Kol who clung to Damon, despite his exhaustion. 

By the time they reached the top, Kol had begun to stir, and he was more conscious of his surroundings. Damon clambered on to the flat platform where he had previously stood attacking Silas. Damon examined the cave, but couldn’t see anything except for the four walls of their tomb. Kol slipped down from his back and attempted to take in their environment. 

“What’s going on?” Kol asked for the second time, his voice tired and hazy. “Where’s Silas?”

“He’s escaped.” Damon informed him, not turning to face his lover. Instead he looked at the pale pool of light which was still shimmering on the plateau. The ropes they had used to climb down were nowhere to be seen and there was no sound from above. 

“What!” Kol replied in shock. The sudden outburst took even him by surprise and he stretched to clutch a stone boulder to steady himself. However, as he reached he felt the cold rock slice at his skin – tearing it and releasing a thin trickle of blood. Kol gasped at the sudden pain. Damon rushed to him. Kol gazed at his palm and the blood that was still continuing to ooze. After several second without it healing, he looked at Damon. Damon avoided his gaze, darting his head away quickly. 

“Damon – what’s going on?” Damon didn’t respond. Instead he bit in to his wrist and offered it to Kol, hoping that his blood would be able to take a little of the pain Damon had condemned his lover to when he gave him the Cure. Kol took the other man’s arm, and despite his confusion began to drink deeply. 

Within seconds he was coughing it up; dark, red liquid pouring out of his mouth as Kol hurled his lover’s blood out of his system. Damon removed his bleeding wrist and wrapped his arm around the other man. Kol looked up at him with confusion for a moment before his eyes filled with understanding. 

“Where’s there Cure?” Kol asked but received no answer from the vampire. Kol tried to push Damon, but his strength failed him. Kol struggled, but realised his enhanced senses were failing him. 

“Damon! What happened?” Kol snarled at him. “Do I-” Kol stopped himself and looked at Damon knowing the truth. Kol pushed past him and towards the light, striding away the vampire who stood motionless. Damon hovered behind him watching him walk away. Kol arrived in the light, his skin bathed in the white glow and remained silent. Damon wondered what he was doing as he gazed up into the cool silver beam. The silence was worse than it had been when Kol was unconscious and Damon felt himself shifting uncomfortably. 

A sudden mumbled cry from down the passage Silas had emerged from attracted Damon’s attention and he dashed in to the darkness towards the sound. The dark rock passed by him until he emerged at the source of the sound. He bared his teeth and prepared to exact his growing rage on the path’s inhabitant. Snarling he hovered over the girl who was cradling her lover in her arms. 

“Bonnie?” Damon asked, confused by her presence. He examined the body in her arms and realised it was Jeremy, blood trickling from his neck. Damon knew he was dead as soon as he arrived. Bonnie was still clutching him, tears pouring down her cheeks. 

“Damon. Use your blood to heal him.” 

“Bonnie…he’s…” As Damon stumbled for a way to tell her he noticed that she too was covered in blood, not all of it the young Gilbert’s. “Bonnie, what happened to you?” 

“Katherine. She knocked me out and when I woke up Silas and her were gone and Jeremy was…Damon, help him.” She pleaded lifting the limp body in her arms up to him. 

“Bonnie, we need to get out of here.” Damon told her as he knelt down beside her. Damon lifted her free of Jeremy’s body and supported her, still weeping down the corridor towards the cavern. 

As they emerged from the cave passage they found Kol still bathed in the glow from above. Damon carried Bonnie with him until they were all stood in the light. Kol had slumped to the floor and was gazing upwards, lost in his own thoughts. Damon let Bonnie slip to the ground and hovered above them. 

“Okay, so we have no rope. Ideas anyone?” 

The two were silent as they absorbed the events of the cavern, with Bonnie staring back at the passage and Kol gazing above. Damon resolved to discover another way out. He examined the edge of the walls and tried to ascertain a way for him to crawl and climb upwards to the hole in the roof. Damon sped from wall to wall, trying to climb the stone as he had done to get up the rockface before, but found each time, the arch of the cavern forced him to lose his grip and plummet down to the ground. 

He moved back towards the pair who were motionless despite their proximity to each other. He examined them both but realised they were still in a dazed shock. 

“Kol. We need to get out of here? Bonnie, any ideas?” 

“We need to go back for Jeremy.” She insisted, standing to her feet. 

“Oh, will you shut up. It’s because of the Hunter and you that we’re stuck here in the first place.” Kol spat back climbing to stand next to her. Bonnie turned around and angrily raised her hand, but found herself weakened from her recent head trauma, and lowered her hand. Kol,likewise after standing, found himself weak from the transition and half stumbled. 

“Right. Well if you two are done bickering, we need to work a way out of here.”

“It’s pointless.” Kol told him dismissively. “Our only way out of here, was that rope and it’s gone.”

As he spoke, a high pitched whirl filled the air and within seconds a thin strip of rope was dangling next to them. The trio looked up in to the light and could barely make out the silhouetted figure of a small female above them.

“Did someone need a lift?”


	2. The Power of Hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Group attempt to escape the Island, but find themselves blocked at each turn.

The air was fresh and the sun warmed their skin as the trio left the cavern entrance, led by their saviour, Rebekah. She has arrived after Silas’ disappearance and had lowered the rope down after she’d heard them squabbling. Now the group was back on the ground and moving towards the boats. Bonnie was still silent – a willing captive – traveling without reason with the group, rather than remaining in the cave. 

“How did this happen?” Rebekah questioned angrily, after discovering the truth of Katherine’s arrival, Silas’ escape and Kol’s new found humanity. “You were the one who told me not to take the cure?!” 

“I didn’t want this, Sister.” Kol informed her. “If it was up to me, we would never have been on this godforsaken island in the first place.” 

“But, what happens now?” She asked, examining her brother as they walked, returning to the beach in the hopes of using the boat to escape before they faced Silas again. Kol remained quiet; he didn’t truly know himself what would happen now he was human again. The Cure circulating his system had left him feeling numb as it slowly destroyed the vampiric magic coursing through his veins, yet he could feel a strange sense of energy begin to emerge within him. It began pulsing through him, and he struggled to contain it, trying to name this nameless force inside him which had awakened since they left the cave. 

Damon, walked beside him, but they hadn’t had contact since Kol had learned the truth behind his new circumstances. Kol’s body was a mixture of emotions, and he couldn’t work out which were about Damon and which were simply directed at him, all he could feel was this sudden rush heightening his feelings and clouding his mind. 

They smelt the boats before they saw them, and as they closed in they knew their escape was doomed. The broken shells of the rafts were smoking, and the beach was still marked with the tracks of the one boat which had been used to escape. Damon and Rebekah sped towards the wreckage and examined them for any signs that one could be salvaged, but found nothing. Damon angrily kicked one, tearing a chunk of the side off and sending it hurtling across the beach. 

“Well, what now?” Damon asked, attempting to calm himself down. 

“Now? Now Nothing. The only boats we brought here are either gone or destroyed, and there’s an all-powerful immortal somewhere out there who has already tried to kill two of us.” Kol informed him, a burst of rage rumbling out of his chest and attacking Damon suddenly, who was unsure what to do with the sudden tension. 

“I don’t think these were the only boats.” Rebekah informed them after a moment’s hesitation. 

“What do you mean?” Kol asked.

“Well, Stefan, Bonnie and the others all came on these two boats, then we came on the third…” She continued. 

“So how did Katherine get here.” Damon realised. 

“There’s something else you should see.” She told them, before signalling for them to follow her back in to the woods. 

*****

They heard Galen’s hushed moans from the distance and saw the thin trickle of smoke which was fainter than it had been for Rebekah, but was still strong enough to guide them through the trees. Galen himself was still tied where Rebekah had left him, although it was evident he had tried to struggle free of his binds. Damon and Rebekah were looming in front of him, while Kol hung behind. 

“Where’s the boat you used to get here?” Damon asked, inserting an arrow into his side over the freshly scarred wound Rebekah had healed. 

“Why would I tell you? It’s not like you’re going to let me get off this island?” He answered back. 

“Well, you’ve got a point there.” Damon said, before plucking another arrow to stab him with. Galen groaned, but still didn’t say anything. Damon eyed him, trying to see whether he would break soon, and decided to pluck another arrow out to test. 

“Wait.” Kol commanded. “If the Hunters were created to hunt and destroy Silas, he might be useful if we ever have to deal with him again. We might need him.” 

“Seriously?” Damon questioned doubtfully. Before Damon could protest any further, Kol had already picked up a knife and was loosening his binds. As they broke, the man rolled free, scrambling to pick up his weaponry. He held a stake up in front of him warningly to the, but winced at the pain from the arrows still in his side. 

“What do you think you’re going to do with that?” Damon asked. “I mean, right now you don’t look like you could take on an agitate squirrel, let alone either us.” 

“I don’t need to stop you. I just have to get to the boat and she’ll be waiting for me.”

“She?” Damon questioned, suddenly his rage returning. “Katherine is how you got here?” Galen became silent, trying not give away his assistant, but realising he had already said too much and was discovered.

“She came to me and offered to help me grow my mark, then recently it just finished and we had a map here.” 

“When they killed Elijah.” Rebekah suggested to Damon as the pair questioned the Hunter, who had slumped to his knees – defeated. 

“When we arrived on the island Katherine sent me to scope out the terrain whilst she went a deal with an old friend. When she didn’t contact me I assumed she was in trouble so I came looking for her. That’s when I found her.” He informed them, pointing at Rebekah. 

“Well, I hate to tell you this chump,” Damon said, walking over and pulling the arrows out, “but Katherine’s probably gone, and your boat is likely to be gone too.” Damon lifted him up, and the man shuddered with pain. “But we’re going to have a look anyway, so you can either lead the way and leave with us, or I can heal you, knock you out and leave you here for Silas, what’s it going to be?” 

Galen pushed away and felt the stake that was still in his hand considering his options, before relenting and signalled for them to follow him. Rebekah and Kol began to move, but Damon tracked back and found Bonnie who had been absent from their discussions. He found her over the body of a lifeless girl. Damon knelt down beside her and for a minute thought that Katherine hadn’t escaped the island, but then noticed the necklace around her throat. 

“Elena.” He whispered, weaving his hands through her hair – momentarily forgetting the hateful words they had exchanged recently. He felt her pale cheek and for an instant was filled with remorse over his betrayal. He could feel water pooling in the corners of his eyes as he gazed down at her, and almost didn’t notice the arrival of Kol who loomed over him, examining the body. 

Kol’s mind was still racing with a conflict of emotions all screaming to be heard, but in that second he realised what he needed was to help the one who had damned him to a mortal life. The force that was pulsing inside him came to a quiet, like a humming fading into the background – still there, but eclipsed by a feeling which controlled his mind. His hatred faded like a memory as he placed his hand upon the Salvatore’s shoulder and lightly squeezed it. 

“Damon,” he half whispered, “we need to go.” Damon’s hand found his lover’s and without wiping them, his tears were gone. Damon stood next to him and gazed in to Kol’s eyes. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

“I know. We need to leave.” Kol informed him before turning to leave. Damon went to follow, but stopped and placed his hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. 

“Bonnie you need to go too.” He told her. She remained motionless, so he looped his hand under her and lifted her from the earth, so she was standing beside him and walking with the rest of the group, following Galen. 

***** 

The cove where Katherine’s boat was, was dark by the time they had made their way across the island. To their surprise the boat remained intact, untouched since it’s beaching days ago. Galen moved forward, quickly followed by Rebekah, then Kol, Bonnie and Damon covering the rear. Galen fell in to the boat, finally giving in to the pain of his wounds as he began to feel around for the motor, before doubling over. Rebekah moved forward and understood his reaction. The keys were missing and there was no way to jump-start the engine. 

“So we’re still trapped here.” She informed them. The others moved closer to the boat and examined it mournfully. 

“Well. Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot more time together.” A voice informed them. They turned to see a man standing at the edge of the woods they had just escaped, and smiling down at the them. He was looming over them in the half-darkness and Rebekah was startled at the likeness of his face and stepped away from the boat towards him. 

“Stefan?” She questioned looking at his face. Damon dashed in front to stop her. 

“It’s not Stefan. It’s Silas.” He informed her, turning to look at the man. Kol and Bonnie returned from the boat and came to stand next to the two vampires. 

“You. You did this.” Bonnie began. “Because of you, my friends are dead. My Best Friend is dead.” She raised her hand and began to chant, her rage directed at the man before her, who seemed to find humour in her pain. 

“Oh Bonnie.” He said wandering towards them. “The bump on your head is worse than you thought, your concentration is ruined and no concentration, no magic. I don’t think you have the strength to even light a candle right now.” 

Bonnie stumbled back, her powers failing her. She looked into her palms and shock with anger as she struggled to control herself, tears pouring from her eyes. 

“Maybe, she can’t focus her powers alone.” Kol announced taking a step forward. “But I’ve finally realised what I’ve been feeling.” Kol informed them taking Bonnie’s hand in his own. “Power.” Kol raised his hand towards the other man and focused. The immortal appeared to initially not feel anything, until his progression slowed. Kol screamed and felt the magic inside him burst out and throw the other man back, although the image of him remained. 

“Phasmatos motus incendiamos.” The treeline erupted in to flames which licked the sands before them and blazed against the darkening night. The image of Silas remained undeterred by the flames, but Kol could sense through his and Bonnie’s shared power that they had forced the immortal back momentarily. He quickly turned, feeling blood begin to trickle from his nose and ignited the boat which roared to life. As he took a step towards the boat, still clutching Bonnie’s hand, he felt the ground slip beneath him and he was falling to the cold, coarse sands of the bay. Before he landed, he felt strong arms wrap around and lift him – returning him to the boat as the group sped away from the burning skyline of the island behind them.


	3. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damon finds out what it's like to have Kol back in his witch form.

Crashing doors greeted Damon as he entered the Mikaelson House. The mansion was a mess with shelves dislodged and light fixtures flickering. At the centre of the madness sat Kol, seated at the dining table, grimoires scattered about him. Several other manuscripts and parchments had been flung to corners of the room when the reader had become bored. Kol didn’t look up to acknowledge Damon’s arrival; he continued to scan the pages in front of him, skipping from book to book erratically. 

Damon hadn’t seen Kol since they’d returned from the island. Damon had elected to take Bonnie home, before returning to the Boarding House to look for Stefan and Katherine, whilst Galen had gone to check the rest of town. Neither of them had had much luck, and Damon had given up and fallen asleep at the house. In the morning he’d been woken up by Rebekah paying him a visit. She’d turned up, suitcase in the car, warning him that she was going to Louisiana in search of Klaus. He’d left a cryptic message about witches and a wolf out in New Orleans, and that he’d taken off. He’d wanted to tell her to stay here and help Kol, but he could tell through her tough exterior that the recent run in with Silas had shaken her. Rebekah had sworn to return with Klaus after they’d dealt with issue, but Damon didn’t feel like holding her to it. She’d told him to check in on Kol, but had neglected to mention his current state of absurdity. 

Damon knocked lightly on the wall to the dining room, and Kol’s eyes darted up – startled – his concentration breaking and allowing the lights to return to normal. Kol’s expression relaxed from anxious tension to pleasant surprise as he examined the vampire before him. 

“Knock Knock. Hope I’m not intruding. Rebekah said I should pop over.” Damon said as he strode in to the room. “What is all of this?” He inquired, gesturing to the numerous books and papers dotted around the witch.

“This is work.” Kol announced joyfully jumping up from the desk and almost skipping round to his lover on the other side. Kol gripped his hands around Damon’s faced and kissed him, passionately conveying his exhilaration and elation. “I’ve been going through the hundreds of grimoires I’ve collected over the years and trying to put in to practice all the spells I’ve learnt, but never been able to perform.” Kol informed him, pulling away and moving back to the table. “For instance: this book I crafted when I was studying in the Middle East, it’s all about transmogrify and changing something in to something else.” Kol said as he plucked up a large tome. “Or there’s this one,” he continued, dropping the book and picking up another black leather bound volume, “which I discovered when I was in Haiti, which is all about sacrificial magic and channelling the power of entire covens to increase the power of the witch practicing it.” Kol continued before turning back to Damon who was staring at him vacantly, uncertain as to the new found vigour in the man. 

“I should probably leave you to it.” He informed him, before turning to leave. 

“Wait.” Kol called, rushing up to grab his hand and turn him back around. “I want to thank you.” Kol informed him, placing another kiss on his lips. “It’s thanks to you that I’ve got my magic back. After 900 years I can finally do this.” Kol announced before raising his hands and lighting the numerous candles dotted around the room, which erupted in a great glow of amber light. 

“But you’re human?” Damon questioned.

“Yes, but don’t you see darling? This is what I’ve wanted for so long – I just didn’t know it was going to happen.” Kol said placing more kisses on his cheeks, before moving away across the room. “For 900 years I had to sit on the side lines, watching as Witches developed new spells and forms of magic and only being able to teach the select few to do my bidding. Now, thanks to this Cure, I can finally practice again. Being a vampire is like feeling this adrenaline rush all the time – all your senses are heightened and it’s like everything is in slow motion. Being a witch is so much more. It’s like you’ve got this energy the whole time, like you’re connected to everything around you and you can control it and shape it. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.” 

“So you don’t care Silas tricked me into giving you the Cure?” Damon questioned as he followed him in to the room. 

“Of course not Darling.” Kol said, moving back and cupping Damon’s head with his hand so he could look directly into the vampire’s eyes. “I mean, it could have gone better and now Silas is awake and somewhere plotting the destruction of the world as we know it, but now I’ll at least be able to use my witch powers to stop him.” Kol looked at Damon’s face, which was confused by how comfortable Kol was finding the transition. “Come on, I could use a rest.” Kol said leading him out of the room and in to the living room, where Kol poured them both a drink of bourbon. 

Kol slouched down onto the couch beside him and looked at the vampire, who’s confusion had changed to an ignorant bliss. Before Kol could offer him the drink Damon had already knocked the glasses out of his hand and moved in to him, planting kiss after kiss on his lips. Kol wrapped his hands around the vampire – one in his hair the other around his waist, whilst Damon was busy fiddling with the buttons of his shirt. Damon hastily opened each button before laying kiss after kiss across the vampire’s torso. Taking in the joy of each pounding blood vessel and heart beat racing around his body. Kol exhaled sharply as Damon attacked him more fervently, his kisses becoming more adoring as he took in every inch of the newly mortal skin. 

Kol slipped off Damon’s jacket, and tugged his t-shirt up and off, so the vampire’s own chest was exposed, and in the brief respite from Damon’s barrage of kisses, Kol leant up and began to caress his body with his lips; winding a trail up the vampire’s chest to his sternum. Damon, clutched Kol’s head to his chest as Kol began to tentatively bite down on the skin there. Damon let Kol slip further up till they were face to face again, their cool forms pressed against each other and their pale glistening skin sliding together as Damon began to attack Kol’s lips, his tongue exploring his mouth again, his hands tracing the muscular arches of his back. Damon’s lips began to move down his neck, kissing every inch of skin and feeling the heat of Kol’s blood as it pumped through his veins. Damon could feel his hunger and without thinking his teeth began to change as he bit harder into the flushing flesh of Kol’s neck. 

Suddenly Damon was across the room, crashing on to the ground. He blinked and could see the startled look on Kol’s face as he examined his hands which had been raised at Damon. Kol shook his shock off and got up and moved towards Damon who was still seated on the hard wood flooring. 

“I’m sorry love, I don’t know what happened.” Kol explained, helping him back to his feet. “I guess I must still be getting used to having these powers.” 

“What brought that on?” Damon asked shrugging the other man off and moving back in to the room to pick his t-shirt back up, his pride slightly shaken. 

“I don’t know.” Kol replied uncertainly. “I was just thinking about what would happen if you bit me with the Cure still in my system, we don’t know what that would do.” He explained. “We don’t know how that would affect either of us.” 

“How do you mean?” Damon inquired sitting himself back on the sofa. 

“Well, we don’t know if I can pass the Cure on through my blood, or if I can lose it for that matter. It’s just too dangerous until I can find out more.” Kol told him. 

“I guess.” Damon said a tad grumpily. 

“Would you want it?” Kol asked him, coming to sit beside his lover, placing his hand on Damon’s shoulder and gently massaging him. 

“What?” Damon said, calmer due to the proximity of the witch. 

“The Cure? If you could take it and be human again, would you?”

Damon didn’t even stop to consider; he’d already been through all of this with Elena before he’d gotten his memories back. 

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll never know. There’s only one cure to vampirism and it’s currently in you.” 

“No, it’s not.” Kol corrected, suddenly enlightened by some wisdom long forgotten. 

“What do you mean, of course it is. I gave it to you.” Damon reminded him harshly. 

“No.” Kol replied again, standing up. “How could I be so stupid? All this time I was looking in the wrong Grimoire for a way to stop Silas.”

“What are you talking about?” Damon questioned, frustrated by Kol’s lack of coherence. 

“You remember a year ago when my mother tried to kill me and my siblings because she’d decided we’d lived too long?” Kol asked. 

“Yeah and she had Ric use that enchanted stake to try and kill all of you?”

“No, before that, she created a spell to reverse immortality. It’s in her Grimoires. This is what we need to stop Silas.” Kol informed him, before getting up and dashing out of the room.


End file.
